Vatican Looks to Heavens for Signs of Alien Life
November 11th, 2009Via: AP:
E.T. phone Rome. Four hundred years after it locked up Galileo for challenging the view that the Earth was the center of the universe, the Vatican has called in experts to study the possibility of extraterrestrial alien life and its implication for the Catholic Church.
“The questions of life’s origins and of whether life exists elsewhere in the universe are very suitable and deserve serious consideration,” said the Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, an astronomer and director of the Vatican Observatory.
Funes, a Jesuit priest, presented the results Tuesday of a five-day conference that gathered astronomers, physicists, biologists and other experts to discuss the budding field of astrobiology — the study of the origin of life and its existence elsewhere in the cosmos.
Funes said the possibility of alien life raises “many philosophical and theological implications” but added that the gathering was mainly focused on the scientific perspective and how different disciplines can be used to explore the issue.
Chris Impey, an astronomy professor at the University of Arizona, said it was appropriate that the Vatican would host such a meeting.
“Both science and religion posit life as a special outcome of a vast and mostly inhospitable universe,” he told a news conference Tuesday. “There is a rich middle ground for dialogue between the practitioners of astrobiology and those who seek to understand the meaning of our existence in a biological universe.”
Thirty scientists, including non-Catholics, from the U.S., France, Britain, Switzerland, Italy and Chile attended the conference, called to explore among other issues “whether sentient life forms exist on other worlds.”
Funes set the stage for the conference a year ago when he discussed the possibility of alien life in an interview given prominence in the Vatican’s daily newspaper.
The Church of Rome’s views have shifted radically through the centuries since Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake as a heretic in 1600 for speculating, among other ideas, that other worlds could be inhabited.
Scientists have discovered hundreds of planets outside our solar system — including 32 new ones announced recently by the European Space Agency. Impey said the discovery of alien life may be only a few years away.
“If biology is not unique to the Earth, or life elsewhere differs bio-chemically from our version, or we ever make contact with an intelligent species in the vastness of space, the implications for our self-image will be profound,” he said.
This is not the first time the Vatican has explored the issue of extraterrestrials: In 2005, its observatory brought together top researchers in the field for similar discussions.
In the interview last year, Funes told Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano that believing the universe may host aliens, even intelligent ones, does not contradict a faith in God.
“How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?” Funes said in that interview.
“Just as there is a multitude of creatures on Earth, there could be other beings, even intelligent ones, created by God. This does not contradict our faith, because we cannot put limits on God’s creative freedom.”
Funes maintained that if intelligent beings were discovered, they would also be considered “part of creation.”
And of course this piggybacks off of Monsignor Balducci’s statement from 2008 that ‘Aliens exist’ and a statement from some other person at the Vatican recently who said it was ‘OK to believe in Aliens.’
I want to know what the Vatican knows and when they knew it.
🙂
@realitydesign
I think “they” know A LOT about the life force in its myriad forms and that it does not just reside here on Earth. I also think they’ve known about life off Earth for a very long time. Hmm.
Roswell? Dunno. My speculation entirely. But this is TRULY ODD.
But I also think Earthlings are being “primed” for a “revelation” or a “visitation.” For example, a television show, “V,” a remake (not that I’ve watched it) is new viewing this fall. I don’t think the TV show along with the Vatican speaking out on this is a coinkydink.
Every Christmas and/or Easter the priest at our Byzantine Catholic Church “gets” to read the Pope’s message (good for Father Mike as he does not have to write a sermon). I haven’t been to church for about 10 years now since Mom took ill, but I’d pay money to be there when Father Mike has to read the Pope’s message: there are aliens amongst us and are going to be visiting us soon. LOL.
“I want to know what the Vatican knows and when they knew it.”
Perhaps. Or maybe “what they think they know”.
Expanding this line of inquiry further, if it can be proven that the Second Law, this man-related curse, applies to the entire universe – and I don’t know of any scientist who thinks it doesn’t – then it seems obvious that mankind is the supreme intelligent creature in the 3D universe and that no intelligent, morally responsible aliens can exist. So it appears the entire 3D universe is cursed for man’s sake also, a view reinforced by the promise of a “New Heaven (universe) and New Earth” to replace the current when the curse is removed.
So, if we were to be presented with intelligent alien beings suddenly arriving on earth, who could interact with this world in a manner impervious to the Second Law then we would have to conclude that they were hierarchically superior to man, i.e., that they were created somewhat higher than mankind to begin with and therefore, by biblical definition, would be classed as angelic (man being made “a little lower than the angels” – Psalm 8:4-5). The fact that a fallen angel was able to roam a pre-cursed earth further indicates such hierarchy, since the earth was not cursed for his sake at that time but subsequently for the sake of the creatures into whose stewardship it was handed. Hence it is entirely feasible that there exists extra dimensional beings from outside the 3D universe that are capable of physically manifesting themselves on earth without being subject to the Second Law.
On the other hand, we could draw several conclusions if it were shown that we could injure, impede or kill the visitors. Namely, that they too (like the animals) were somehow subject to physical laws designed to be a curse on mankind for rebellion against God, in which case they too would be seen as hierarchically inferior to man in Creation, that is, they would be biblically classified as animals. And yet the biblical inferences are consistent in that created hierarchy applies to intellectual capacity also, so these smarter-than-us animals would present us with a dilemma; either these aliens are indeed what they appear to be and Scripture is wrong or else they are not quite what they appear to be and Scripture is right. For the Christian, everything has to be interpreted by Scripture; for the atheist or agnostic, face value is much more important. In such a scenario as described, the world would be very much divided and the many speculatively religious people would almost certainly join with atheists and agnostics, thus sifting even further and marginalising the few who cling to the Bible. It would lead to a revolution world political and religious thinking that very, very few people would resist.
In conclusion, if the denizens of the Vatican studied Scripture they would know that the only admissible ET life is angelic and extra-dimensional, and that any ET manifestation purporting to come from another planet is “a lying wonder” and therefore fallen angelic (demonic) in nature. But then again, the Vatican has never been big on the Bible, as the Dark Ages attest.